Inherently Funny
It’s not P.D.Q. Bach…
Maybe the US Space Force can use it?
UK poster here. Benny Hill was deeply unfunny, and his so-called ‘comedy’ chases weren’t. We had Monty Python, Spike Milligan and The Comic Strip for alternative entertainment while Hill’s show was in production, and Hill was not in that league at all.
Nevertheless Yakkity Sax itself is definitely intrinsically funny.
Until, of course, a manuscript is uncovered deep in the archives at Dudeldorf, showing that, in fact, P.D.Q. Bach was the composer. It could happen…
The Coaster’s original Yakety Yak was inherently high energy and inherently satirical; it sure wasn’t a love ballad unlike the standard rock n roll of the day.
Yakety Sax is the same, but they cranked up the energy to the point of inherently zany. Whether “zany” = “funny” is in the eye of the beholder. The Queen might not be amused, but folks who enjoy slapstick would be. It’s musical slapstick.
You make a key point. Unlike Entrance of the Gladiators which is funny because of its association with the circus, Yakety Sax was intended to be light hearted and humorous.
It’s funny in large part by association, and even people who haven’t seen Benny Hill have likely seen some of the many other works that use the song in the same way (most of which are probably themselves references to Benny Hill).
But the song itself is inherently well-suited to being used in the way that Hill (and others) used it, just like (for instance) “Powerhouse” is well-suited as a soundtrack to caricatured industrial machinery.
Never heard it before Hill used it .
My Dad had Boots Randolph’s “Yakety Sax” on vinyl, released in 1963. By the time I (and my brothers) were oh, 5 years old in 1969, we played it all the time. Thus I was very familiar with the tune when I saw it used on Benny Hill’s show year later, and my original impression of it prevented me then, as now, of thinking of it as funny, but rather, just an amazingly catchy tune.
Btw, thanks for this thread, because I hadn’t thought of that album in years, and I am literally thrilled to have just picked up a copy on eBay.
Just played it. Oh, the memories! Boots co-wrote it, btw.
I occasionally listen to this song working out. I like its fast pace but in that setting it is not remotely funny. In other settings it could be.
It seems to only be allegro moderato? Not as fast as “Flight of the Bumblebee” or even some types of dance music. Maybe it’s only Hill’s time-lapse cinematography that feels fast.
Winner winner chicken dinner!
Keep them coming 
Hey G-Man…be careful what you wish for.
I already had one on deck. 
This one happened in my state. Nutshell-The town folks, the police, everybody joined together to apprehend a couple of elusive desperados.
To answer the OP seriously, in my opinion(or my mind, whatever), yes the song is inherently funny. Look at the 2012 clip. Look what’s happening in the video. The city of Los Angeles is being reduced to rubble very realistically…not funny. I have relatives there. Add the music…funny!
What’s doubly funny about that llama vid is there’s a bunch of spots where the pace of the llamas’ movements seems to match the pace of the music. As if they’re running / dancing in time to the music.
I don’t know if that’s because some clever editor adjusted the audio & video speeds slightly to achieve that match, or people (or maybe just me) are prone to seeing timing where it isn’t really.
Go llamas! Go!
You actually watched it. Cool. I noticed that too.
Anything with llamas is worth watching. Llamas on the loose in suburbia would be funny set to a funeral dirge.
Also, given the history of yakity sax being associated with slapstick, and Keystone Kops being ultimate slapstick, almost anything showing the police in a disorganized ineffectual light plays perfectly into that song.
I did think that yakity sax was in poor taste in the earthquake movie snip. It took a dramatic (if over wrought) moment and made it slapstick. IMO they wrecked the mood they were going for.
True!
I don’t quite get this part. Who is “they?” This music wasn’t in the movie was it?